Bakebaby!

crawling along

2012-02-06T13:34:00.000-06:00

We really had a wonderful gift this year...Winston officially started crawling on Christmas day! It was so exciting, and he's so happy to be able to move around as he likes. He's been cruising for a while, and we think he'll be walking well before his first birthday.

Oh, the princess. A new princess dress. New princess shoes. She's pretty happy.

the first Christmas

2012-02-05T20:37:00.000-06:00

Well, it wasn't the first Christmas, but it was #1 of 2 we had this year. Two sets of family visits equals double the fun for kiddos! And, it was Winston's first Christmas. I think you can tell everyone had a great time. We even managed to get a few family pictures of all four of us--a Christmas miracle!

deck the halls

2012-01-31T21:59:00.000-06:00

These are just a little old, but I'm trying to catch up. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Birdie loved decorating the tree--and then messing with the ornaments for a month. The two at the bottom are from a neighborhood Christmas party. I've got several posts of Christmas morning pictures and then I'll rejoin the rest of the world already living in 2012!

stricken from the record

2012-01-30T14:26:00.000-06:00

So, January has been a bit of a whirlwind. Fortunately, my photography business never slowed down this month like I had anticipated. Unfortunately, that means I have done pretty much zero of the plans I had made. I've made a command decision and have declared that January never happened. That way, all of my thank you notes from Christmas won't be late, it won't be ridiculous to post Christmas morning pictures, and I won't have to remember all of the poo I've been cleaning up the last 30 days. Sounds like a great idea to me.

David and I will celebrate our 17-year dating anniversary tomorrow. I'm happy to say that we are still pretty cutesy-wootsey and leave little love notes for each other every now and then. This is one he came home to when he had to work late the other night--it's a pretty good summary of my January.

What? I remembered the "xoxo."

Vegas, baby!

2012-01-17T15:44:00.000-06:00

I took the kids to Vegas a few months ago to visit a friend of ours and her daughter. She and I used to teach together in Colorado. Despite the kids never adjusting to the time difference (4am wakeups) and our very first trip to the emergency room (B dropped a small dumbell on her toe two hours before we were supposed to leave for the airport to come back), we had a blast. Here are some of the highlights:

This is B dancing around in her new fancy socks before we went to the playground.

I hate to leave Winston out of so many pictures, but it's hard to take pics when they're both awake. This is how he spent our playground time.

In all the times I had been to Vegas in the past, I don't think I ever thought that I'd one day be pushing a stroller down the strip, but we did it.

Outside our fave hotel, The Venetian:

The kids couldn't have done any better on the plane rides, and B cracked everyone up when she would always say, "Vegas, baby!" She just saw me working on this and said, "Can we go to Vegas, baby, right now? I have to pack my bag!" Thanks for a great trip, S and A!

9 months

2012-01-10T16:38:00.003-06:00

I feel the need to gush. I am so over-the-moon, head-over-heels in love, and any other cliche you can think of. I'm infatuated with this kid, and I feel little heart palpitations when I scoop him up and he hugs my neck so tight. I'm not shy to admit that he's totally in love with me, too; he's a momma's boy. I know that the day will come when I'm no longer his #1 gal, so I'll soak up every second I can.

Baby boy, you are 9 months old today, and I can hardly believe it. We feel so incredibly blessed and lucky to have you in our lives. We love you!

The Big Easy

2012-01-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

Big Daddy's new nickname for W is "The Big Easy." It totally suits him. We don't have any New Orleans pics to go with, but here are some from the last time we were in Louisiana.

This is from us hanging around the house. I was trying to get a good profile shot for my new header (which is why it's so overexposed), and I thought this one was funny.

even Elf doesn't have days this fun

2011-12-25T21:51:00.001-06:00

If you'd like to have a day like Birdie's, it should go something like this:

After playing dress up for a while, settle on a size 12-month swimsuit cover up, and then show off your sweet dance moves.

Spend the next hour wrestling your little brother.

Head to the playground and swing for a while.

Help feed some carrots to baby bro.

Take a bubble bath in the kitchen sink while watching your favorite cartoons.

Do some quick acrobatics before bed:

If you're ever curious about what we do all day, that's a pretty good summary. Pretty cool.

my girl

2011-12-19T20:29:00.002-06:00

"Can I take your order, Sir?"

2011-12-15T06:42:00.000-06:00

Birdie and I play pretend all the time with tea parties, princess rescuing, ice cream making, and pet store shopping to name a few. This is "restaurant." She got the idea when she found the jewelry catalog in the recycling bin, and it became her menu. The other patrons are Flopsy and Sweaty Bear, and everyone needed glasses apparently. Love it.

He loves to laugh...long and loud and clear.

2011-12-03T21:30:00.001-06:00

This boy. Words can't describe how my little heart melts every time I scoop him up. Since he's our last baby, I'm trying extra hard to really cherish every moment I can. This kid is the snuggliest, cuddliest, most smooshable little teddy bear baby that ever existed. Birdie loves it when he wakes up from a nap, because I always ask her if she wants to go see him first. She runs in there and says, "Shh, shh. Birdie's here. Birdie's here, Winston." And then she usually climbs into his crib with him and gives him a kiss...and then proceeds to taste test all of the pacifiers in his crib, and the moment's over. And then when I pick him up, he smiles and squeezes me and holds my neck like we haven't seen each other in months. Sigh.

This is just a cute little video of him laughing. It's not hyperbole to say that I spend hours every day making him laugh. He thinks it's really funny when I do silly voices. Enjoy!

a chocolatey face and an afternoon nap

2011-11-27T23:03:00.001-06:00

All the signs of a great Thanksgiving:

Happy Thanksgiving!

for the birds

2011-11-17T22:34:00.001-06:00

Here's my fam waiting on me to finish a photo shoot. Love these dudes. I'll bet you didn't know Nessie lived in Texas.

How cute is that eyebrow?

What do you mean you've seen this dress before? Wait. Oh, you're right. I have seen this dress before. It was yesterday. And the day before that. Oh, yeah, and the day before that. Her name is Birdie. And she's addicted to being a princess.

so close...

2011-11-08T21:46:00.002-06:00

Winston is minutes away from crawling, I think. Check out these moves:

the princess and the pout

2011-11-07T08:58:00.001-06:00

B is pouting because her favorite friend can't come out to play yet. She doesn't realize that normal people don't get up and get dressed in full princess attire at 6 am. Well, except for actual princesses. They might.

Little Red

2011-11-02T21:57:00.000-05:00

I forgot about our wardrobe change the other day after her first jacket was too wet. Sidenote: we go through several "princess" outfit changes a day these days. Anyway, this was my coat when I was little. So stinkin' adorable.

down came the rain

2011-10-31T12:03:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've been crazy busy with fun photo shoots, and then I took the kids to Vegas, so I have lots to post. These are from a week or so ago. Pretty cute.

The boys:

tiny bubbles...in my sink

2011-10-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent bath pics. I hope this isn't an embarrassing picture for W. I don't mean it to be. I just think it's his usual happy self. But, it does remind me of a question a little girl asked him this summer at the pool: "Baby, why do you have boobies?"

Notice the time? Wee Willie Winkie is gonna get her.

Happy Half-Birthday, Baby!

2011-10-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

Dang. My baby isn't a baby anymore. We just celebrated his half-birthday, and here are the facts:

He's been sitting up for almost 3 weeks now, and he's probably not far off from crawling. He's almost 22 pounds and 28 inches tall (96th and 92nd percentile). He thinks everything is hilarious. He sneezes and laughs. He takes a bite of food and laughs. He looks at Birdie and laughs. He's in love with his big sister, and I'd bet money that "Birdie" is going to be his first word. Speaking of big sis, we've started letting him cry some at night because he's still waking every two hours--yes, if you're keeping a non-sleep journal of my life, I haven't had longer than a 4-hour stretch of sleep in 2 and a half years. Anyway, he was crying the other night and Birdie was still awake. She looked at me and said, "Momma, Winston crying." I told her I knew and explained that he was ok and was just having a hard time going to sleep. She wasn't satisfied. Two seconds later, "Daddy, Winston crying." He said the same thing, so she goes, "He just need a paci. I go do it myself" and headed towards the nursery. These kiddos just melt my little heart.

sweet child of mine

2011-10-12T07:50:00.001-05:00

These are a little old, but I thought they were cute. I also realize that Bret Michaels and Axl Rose are different people, but not really.

Our little rocker:

The other day we were up early, and I opened a book I had gotten in the mail. Birdie was impressed with my skills and cracked me up with what she said.

Best compliment ever.

Sit pretty!

2011-10-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

Look who's sitting up!

What a cute cowboy. I think we all know why this one had to be black and white. :)

just a swingin'

2011-10-02T20:49:00.000-05:00

Swinging in jammies at sunrise. This is the life!

Goldie

2011-09-22T20:41:00.000-05:00

We decided Birdie needed another haircut. It was starting to look a little crazy with all different lengths, so I just cleaned it up a bit. Here are the golden curls I cut. It's sweet and sad at the same time to see my baby girl grow up. The little video is Birdie singing her baby to sleep. I thought it was a cute one to show her new hair. Btw, she's a very good momma to her babies, and she just told me recently that she has a baby in her belly. :)

What time is it? It's time for lunch!

2011-09-20T20:51:00.002-05:00

The first video is just a cute little one of W laughing--Birdie thought it was hilarious to scream "Crank!" in my ear and then fall on me. Winston was also amused. The second one is the milestone. W started solid foods this past weekend! And I don't think anyone is going to die of shock from hearing that he liked it, but he didn't have seconds. People, he had thirds! I'm already afraid of my future grocery bills....

e-i-e-i-o

2011-09-15T20:17:00.002-05:00

There is a cute little petting zoo called Old MacDonald's Farm in Humble that we went to this morning. We tried going to the "farmer" as B calls it last week, and they were unexpectedly closed, so she has been patiently waiting to go again. I knew it was going to be hot, so we got there right when it opened and stayed for almost 2 hours, and we were the only ones there.

The first shot of the morning. Look at this attitude. I dared to ask her to turn towards the camera. She's skipped the terrible 2's and has gone straight to teenager.

In case you were wondering how W was getting around...

Birdie's favorite animals of the day were these pygmy goats. They were SO cute. They kept tugging on my shoelaces, so Birdie would yell, "No, goats! You go eat your water!"

My happy boy. A little attention from Momma, and he's happy.

There are three deer who wander around the property, and this one was following us for awhile. I guess she's used to the non-cheap people who buy the bags of food to feed to her. Anyway, I finally said something like, "Ok, little deer, that's too close." So Birdie turned around and said, "Hey, deer! Go back to your babies. They need you!" Love it.

She was impressed by the peacocks.

We went back to see the goats again before we left. So cute.

One more ride on Junior before we left. She loves to talk about going on pony rides. Can you believe how big she is? I didn't even have to walk beside her. We had such a fun time together. Of course it would have been better if Daddy had been with us, but we sure had a great time just the three of us. I think it's quite possible that I have the two best kids on the planet.